[sport]Inaki and Nico Williams: Two brothers, one club and a 40-year wait

[-HuNTeR-]

Nico (left) and Inaki WIlliams are the first siblings to play for Athletic Bilbao since 1986

Sign up for notifications to the latest Insight features via the BBC Sport app and read the latest in the series here.

Inaki Williams always knew his brother Nico was special, even if his younger sibling used to get so nervous he would ask Inaki, already a star in Bilbao, not to watch his youth games at the Athletic Club academy.

 

Inaki is a pioneer.

He helped raise Nico while their parents worked tirelessly to make ends meet, but also paved the way for his brother and other sons of immigrants to represent a club whose policy of only fielding players born or raised in the Basque Country inevitably meant the squad has historically reflected the predominantly white society around it.

Inaki, 29, was not the first player of African heritage to represent the club - that was Jonas Ramalho, son of an Angolan father and Basque mother, in 2011 - but he is the first black player to establish himself at San Mames, having made more than 300 La Liga appearances, including an unprecedented 251 in a row.

Nico, eight years his junior, is, in Inaki's words, now "making waves in football" too, and any nerves the youngster feels these days are channelled into realising childhood dreams of performing on the biggest stage alongside his big brother, mentor and guardian.

"As an older brother, it makes me really proud to see how he has grown, to see how he is improving as a footballer. He has no ceiling," Inaki tells BBC Sport. "I'm here to help him, to teach him and give him everything he needs."

It is a journey that began long ago, and a long way from Bilbao. Their mother, Maria, was pregnant with Inaki when she left Ghana with father Felix in search of a better life.

The couple crossed part of the Sahara barefoot. Inaki only learned the full extent of their story when he was 20. He had known his father had problems with the soles of his feet, but not that scorching sand was the reason why. 

Felix and Maria made it to the Spanish territory of Melilla in north Africa, jumping a border fence, but were detained by the civil guard.

A lawyer advised them to lie, to say they were from war-torn Liberia instead and seek political asylum.

He arranged help in Bilbao from Catholic priest Inaki Mardones, who met the couple at Abando railway station when Maria was seven months pregnant, found them an apartment and took them to hospital for Inaki's birth.

Mardones baptised the future star, even gave him his first football shirt, and became his godfather.

He is whom Inaki takes his name from